Lovely Toad
by teh goldfish
Summary: DG pairing. One-shot. Post-hallow. A world where Harry is dead and Voldemort dominates the world. A world where Ginny and Draco create a bond of love prehaps a bit too late... "Are you trying to entice me? Don’t. Stop with this foolishness…"


**A/N**: My first fanfic oneshot ever! It's post-hallow. It hasn't been thoroughly edited, so there are probably a ton of mistakes!!! Please watch out for them and tell me if you see any!! Thoughts about the setting of the oneshot and the characteristics of Draco and Ginny will be appreciated too!!! I wasn't sure if they were slightly OOC and if the setting was a bit confusing. Well, any reviews would be awesome!!!!! And be forewarned, it's quite clichéd... Enjoy!!

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**D**raco entered the room with Ginny across his arm. The girl's eyes were closed, and she had a serene expression across her face. It was nicer away from reality and the pain and all the memories and the war.

Draco's warm hands gently put Ginny into bed. He softly pulled the blankets up for her and tucked them neatly under her chin. _You should have called for me…You should have let yourself forgot Harry years ago and stopped putting yourself through this._

He sat down on the bed's edge. His heart ached. He could do little for Ginny who lived day by day with pain and remorse. Ginny had shown little of her true self ever since Harry's death five years ago. She rarely spoke and if she did, it was only if she had drunk enough Fire Whiskey to be oblivious of her own mind. He was simply a shadow in Ginny's sorrowful life…

Unexpectedly, Ginny kicked the blanket off unconsciously, and she sobbed, "No! Don't kill him!! Please don't!!! Harry! Go away!!! Go away…please!!!"

It had been five years since his death, and still the Dark Lord had gone undefeated. Ever since Harry's death, much of the world had turned into a devastated land of fear and scarcity. Ruled by the tight hands of the Dark Lord, prisoners were often taken in. People often killed in the cruelest form possible.

As he once again pulled the blankets up for Ginny, he thought about how he despised the fact that he could do little to help Ginny. Draco felt ashamed. He thought about how he hated the loneliness and the guilt that was eating up Ginny. It wasn't her fault, and yet she persistently felt it was. He couldn't blame her, but it pained him to see her that way. It pained him deeply. Why couldn't she be the person she was before? And why couldn't he be his old self once again?

In regret, Draco slid his hand down Ginny's cheek gently and then stood up to leave when she called…

"Stay Draco."

Draco turned his head. She was awake.

"Don't go."

Draco meekly smiled and sat back down on the bed. "So how is it? Feeling better?"

"No. Not at all. My head hurts." Ginny propped herself up on her pillow.

"You know, you don't have to do this to yourself, Ginny. You should stop. It's been exactly five years since his death. It's time to start forgetting and move on. You can start afresh. You can help in the Resistance."

"No, Malfoy, you don't understand," snapped Ginny coldly.

"Then what?? What do I not understand?? What do you want to hear from me??? That the world is fine and your life is going well??"

"No. I didn't mean it that way."

"Then what _do_ you mean?" queried Draco callously.

Ginny stared blankly at Draco and then turned away. "I don't know. I just…I just want to see him again. And mummy." She paused, "And daddy."

"Grow up Ginny. You're twenty-three. They're dead. Dead and never coming back."

"You don't understand. It was my fault. It is my fault that they are dead."

"No. It wasn't, Ginny. You were simply there, and you were forced to watch. You couldn't have done anything more."

"It was mine."

A silence held in the air. Then Draco got up, "I'm going now. The Order is meeting soon. You coming along?"

"No. I rather stay here."

"And watch the rest of the war from your bed and through your alcohol?"

"Just go."

"I will." Draco walked away and slammed the door. _You silly girl. I was going to tell you I may not be coming back, but I couldn't…I couldn't at all._

---

**G**inny sat quietly on her bed. Those first days when they had been attracted to each other… Ginny took a deep breath in. Those memories…

"_Your complexion is worse than a toad, Ginny," taunted Malfoy._

_Ginny was angry. She turned around to say something back at Malfoy only to find her face right in front of his. It threw her off. She could smell his minty breath. She hesitated, her temperature going up every second._

_Then out of the blue, Malfoy set a light kiss on her lips. "Hah! I caught you!" smirked a mischievous Draco who sauntered away humming before Ginny could say anything back._

_So much for an ugly toad… What about toad turned handsome prince? Ginny 'hmphed' in irritation._

Those bizarre moments with Malfoy had actually been pleasurable. They had gotten to know each other, ever so much better, since Ginny's third year. She missed it all. She missed Harry the most of all…a tear fell. And soon, more fell like torrential rain. There was simply too much pain buried in the past. Ginny had burned her heart. It already hurt to remember Harry. His last hours had been ingrained into her soul, and it constantly stabbed her conscious. If Draco were to die in the Dark Lord's hands too, Ginny would have become broken. She didn't want it to happen again. She couldn't let it replay. She had to stay away from love, love that was so devoid of feelings and was so cruel…

---

**D**espite the oppression, the Order of the Phoenix was now a full grown network of resistance that cooperated together with the former Ministry of Magic and other nations. Draco was one of the chief leaders and in charge of the spy network. He himself was playing as the Death Lord's ever beloved right-hand man, and he knew he was flitting with the darkness that could at any moment obliterate him.

Tonight, the Order had come together to finalize the plan to help France and its defensive war against the Death Eaters. Tomorrow, the orders were to be executed, and Draco was finally to reveal his true allegiance and betray Lord Voldemort. He had to do it with absolute perfection in order to escape with his life. It was the final moment. Draco could now take revenge for the destruction that Voldemort had caused in his life.

Except for a certain business he needed to conduct.

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_**T**__o Ginny:_

_Oh that I might capture the essence of this deep midwinter night  
__And fold it softly into the waft of a warm quilt,  
__Then fondly uncoil it for the one who I yearn most._

_Missing you,  
__Draco._

---

_**M**__alfoy:_

_Are you trying to entice me? Don't. Stop with this foolishness…you aren't 16 anymore, remember?_

_Ginny Weasley._

---

_**D**__ear Lovely Toad,_

_I'm not. Simply want to say, 'I miss you.' I'm going off for a while for the Order again. It's important business this time so I may not be replying to messages of any kind. Your friend, Hermione Granger, promised to check on you._

_I feel like laughing at that poem. You actually replied to it! I feared you may have left my message aside. I really needed you to read these letters that's why there was the poem to "entice" you._

_Draco._

---

_**M**__alfoy,_

_What's with you? You don't sound like yourself. And I don't need someone checking on me…And before you start wishing, I'm not your lovely toad._

_Ginny Weasley._

---

**D**raco laughed in amusement at Ginny's seemingly natural antagonism and independent nature. He was glad to have received a reply. He had feared Ginny would have fallen drunk again, but thankfully, she had not. Glad this was so, he made his last preparations and then left the Order's headquarters to accomplish his mission.

---

**T**here had been no reply or any message of some sort for two months now, and Ginny felt she had missed something. She was, for once in a long time, worried. Ginny feared the worst.

_To Draco,_

_Respectable Draco dear, do not boast so early.  
__When you venture out to the sea, it will be difficult to return.  
__That winter essence lost, the spirit gone, and my heart astray...  
__  
Where are you? It's not like you to do this._

_Your fond toad._

Once again, there was no reply. More suspicion was aroused. It had all begun when Hermione had come to visit and didn't attempt to explain why Draco had asked her to check on Ginny. Generally, it was the nature of Hermione to point these things out, but that time Hermione had clearly avoided the subject of Malfoy. Moreover, in the first place, it wasn't normal for Draco to contact Hermione.

---

"**N**o, my Lord. There is nothing between the Order and France."

"Really now. Be realistic, Draco." Voldemort swiped his finger under Draco's chin. "You think I can believe you on such ridiculous liesss."

"No, my Lord. Forgive me."

Voldemort chortled sinisterly, "And why should I do that, Draco? Aren't I your master? You do not take advantage of your master, boy."

Draco feigned obedience and listened in fear, adrenaline beginning to pump. "Yes, my Lord. I'm repentant."

"But you are not, Draco. You are not sorry at all, I fear. Your father was just like you. And so was Snape. They were all fools to think themselves better off than the Dark Lord. They deserved to die! Your mother especially was a fool for she loved you so dearly. Come, come now, Draco. I fear you may have fallen upon their footsteps. Look me in my eyes, Draco. Be a man now."

Draco was not sure whether he dared to look You-Know-Who in the eye. He feared his eyes would betray it all, but then again, Draco knew Voldemort would know. Boldly, Draco gazed upon Voldemort's eyes.

"Look at me closely one last time, Draco. As you know as well as I, you have betrayed me, so it is time for your chastisement. What shall the punishment be Draco??"

"Death." Draco's word rung throughout the hallway.

"But don't you think that sounds too easy going? Let us add on some additional agony to it," leered Voldemort sadistically. "Seize him, Death Eaters!! I shall personallyyyy put him through sssome torment."

Draco was alone and done for, but he knew he could not give up. No, not now when Ginny had not heard him say 'I love you'. No. It couldn't be now. The thoughts whirled around his head. He had to live. He had to survive. But before he could take any action, he was seized by four of his once-comrades.

"Take his wand away before he starts thinking of something dangerous." The Death Eaters did as they were told. Pleased, Voldemort gave a satisfied smirk, "Good. Excellent."

And thus, it began. The pain. It struck upon him repeatedly. It hurt, but it wasn't as bad as the pain Ginny experienced. _No. Ginny's was deeper aching, and it couldn't go away_, Draco coaxed himself. _It haunted her day and night. This didn't. This physical pain would eventually come to a stop. He could make it through. Yes. He could live through this pain. He would. He had to._

Draco could hear Voldemort's laughter in the distance. He could hear a howl of exhilaration. "Funny, how you don't give up so easily, Malfoy. It must be something in the real world holding you back." Voldemort broke into sinister laughter again. "Maybe we should find out with a little mind reading."

Too weak to block Voldemort's probing eye, Draco lay on the floor powerlessly. Every inch of his mind and memory scrutinized.

"So it's love. And it's a girl! The very same girl the Potter boy fell for. Shame. I thought it was something rather extravagant driving you. Well, I guess we should bring her here and let your Death Eater brothers mess around with her. Bet they'll enjoy it."

Mentally and physically exhausted from the _Crucio_ curse, Draco croaked faintly in defiance, "No. Not her. Please no." He was on the verge of losing his conscious.

"How delightful! It's good to hear that you agree Malfoy. Go fetch her, Crabbe."

Draco was now truly afraid. Even in his pathetic state, he had to do something about it. He was afraid for Ginny and what was to become of her to see him in such a mess. He was afraid for her fragile heart that was already quite broken and only starting to piece together. He was afraid for her. Alas, he had no fear of dying. No, he knew there was nothing frightening about it except for the uncertainty. What mattered most was who he died in front of. That was what he truly feared, and Voldemort was aware of it. For Ginny to experience such pain twice in her life was already too much and too unfair. Draco had to stop Voldemort before Ginny saw him. He had to.

Mustering his last strength, Draco forced himself up to his knees. Surprised, Voldemort spelled out a killing curse only to miss and to beaten by Draco who had called out, "_Accio wand!_" Which Draco immediately followed up with by shouting, "_Stupefy!_"

The stun hit its mark. Crabbe fell before he was able to apparate. It followed by Draco starting to see everything in a haze.

He heard Ginny's impulsive cry as something red hit him square on the chest. Time dragged for a long instance. He saw Ginny racing to catch him and a group of others apparating before he fell to the ground.

Draco whispered as loudly as he could in hopes that Ginny would hear, "Lovely toad…I…love…"

The world faded. It was spinning away from Draco's sight, and all gradually turned black. Draco Malfoy could not see to see anymore. He could not speak to speak anymore. He could not love to love anymore.

"You."

---

**G**inny caught him in her arms. She heard his unfinished last words and cried. Her tears falling like rain. Yes, rain once again. Her fate was undeserved. Draco's wasn't either. She should have asked Hermione about her suspicions sooner. She should have gone to the Order's headquarters earlier. She should have done it all again. She should have loved Draco in return. She regretted…And lamented on Draco's still warm body.

As she bawled at fate's injustice, more members of the Order gradually apparated in groups at the scene and contended with the Death Eaters in the hallways of You-Know-Who's headquarters.

Ginny didn't care about her safety in spite of several warnings from the Order's members. She didn't care about anything, except for an impossible wish, to be called Draco's toad once again.

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A/N**: Please do click the little review button!!!!!  



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